Friday, July 24, 2009

I'm going to come clean here. I bought this dress at a thrift store several months ago and in doing so I ignored many of the very same suggestions I gave to you just the other day. It didn't really fill any gaping hole in my wardrobe, and more importantly I didn't exactly love it. But you see, it was months ago, and I hadn't yet learned how to scrutinize my thrift store purchases so carefully. So consequently, I wasn't terribly excited about this dress when I brought it home.

Determined to give it a rigorous test, I pulled the dress out a few nights ago and found to my surprise that it looks and feels GREAT. The cut is incredibly flattering, and the black trim makes it the perfect starting point for a navy/black combo, which is one of my favorites. So why on earth have I only worn it one other time? I think I must have convinced myself at some point that it was only okay, and ever since then I've passed it by, thinking it just wasn't interesting enough to bother with. Amazing what can happen when you allow yourself to become predjudiced against items in your wardrobe. If it hadn't been for Sal's inspiring me to try a blazer/dress combo, it might have been many more months still before I gave this dress another chance.

The dress isn't anything particularly special, really. It's just a simple, navy knit dress with a couple of well-positioned darts and a black neckline and cuffs. It's made by Converse All Star for pete's sake. Yeah, you heard me. But holy smokes, what a perfect fit -- if I hadn't been trying to play up the navy/black combo I could've easily gone without a belt and had plenty of waist definition, which isn't so easy for me to pull off with a solid-color dress, let alone one made of drapey jersey. As you can probably tell, I'm now pretty stoked about my thrift store find and am resolved to wear it more often. It'll be great for warm weather (assuming we ever get any more) with bare legs and my adorable Simple sneakers for a casual weekend look.

i have a very simple navy knit dress (that was very inexpensive, from Ross) that I just have a field down with! navy looks great with so many colors! it's currently sitting in my closet paired with a green collared shirt, 2 brooches, and an orange belt. i was wearing it a little too much for awhile so i'm forcing myself to wait a coupla weeks before wearing it again. i just love its general comfort and versatility.